Apparatus for positioning closure caps on vials



Oct. 24, 1961 w. A. SHIELDS APPARATUS FOR POSITIONING CLOSURE CAPS ON VIALS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 8.

INVENTOR WALTER A SHIELDS ATTORNEY Oct. 24, 1961 w. A. sHlELns APPARATUS FOR POSITIONING CLOSURE CAPS 0N VIALS Filed SeptA 8, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 .nl l l l ATTORNEY Oct. 24, 1961 w. A. SHIELDS APPARATUS FOR POSITIONING CLOSURE CAPS ON VIALS Filed Sept. .8, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG.8

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Oc't. 24, 1961 w. A. SHN-:LDS

APPARATUS FOR POSITIONING CLOSURE CAPS ON VIALS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Sept. 8, 1959 xNvEN-roR WALTER A .SHIEL Ds ATTORNEY wel 3,005,300 APPARATUS FUR PSITNING CLOSURE CAPS N VIALS Walter A. Shields, Jamaica, N.Y. (38-09 24th St., Long Island City 1, N.Y.) Filed Sept. 8, 1959, Ser. No. 838,581 10 Claims. (Cl. 53-319) This invention relates to apparatus for filling vials with a liquid medicament, such as novocain and penicillin, positioning closure caps on the filled vials, sealing the closure caps to be filled vials and selectively discharging sealed vials and vials without closure caps from the apparatus.

This invention particularly relates to means for positioning closure caps arranged with a syringe needle on lled vials.

`It is an object of the invention to provide novel means to transport the vials whereby the vials are readily centered relative to the closure caps and readily moved from the closure cap positioning station with closure caps positioned thereon.

It is another object of the invention to position a closure cap on a vial by moving the vial toward the closure cap while yieldingly holding the closure cap stationary.

It is another object of lthe invention to provide novel means for successively delivering a plurality of closure caps to the positioning station.

It is a further object of the invention to yieldingly retain the foremost closure cap while a vial is positioned in said closure cap.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will beV set forth in the detailed description of thel invention.

in the drawings accompanying and forming a part of tins application:

FIGURE l is a side elevational view of the embodiment of the invention;

IGURE 2 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 2 2 of FIGURE l looking in the direction of the arrows and showing the position of a closure cap in a portion of a delivery chute located in a feeder;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 3 3 of FIGURE 1 looking in the direction of the arrows and showing the position of a closure cap in an intermediate portion of the delivery chute;

FIGURE 4 is a plan View, on an enlarged scale, of means to yieldingly retain the foremost closure cap in position to receive a vial, means to yieldingly align a vial with said foremost closure cap and means to lift the aligned vial into the foremost closure cap;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevational view of the means shown in FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is a view similar to FIGURE 4, on a larger scale, showing in det-ail the closure cap retaining means andv the vial aligning means;

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view taken on line 7 7 of FIGURE 6 looking in the direction of the arrows to show the structure of the closure cap retaining means and the vial aligning means and showing in full lines a vial positioned in a closure cap and in dotted lines a vial in its initial position;

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 8 8 of FIGURE 6 looking in the direction of the arrows and showing in full lines the closure cap in section and the vial partly in section being moved from the lifting means and showing in dotted lines a closure cap being engaged by the retaining means which is shown in full lines in FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary side elevational view similar to FIGURE 5 showing in a diagrammatic manner means `to actuate the lifting means and showing in full "rice lines the initial position of said means and in dotted lines the fully actuated position; I

FIGURE 10 is a view similar to FIGURE 9 showing in yfull lines the actuating and lifting means in a partlal retrograde position and in dotted lines the preceding recessive positions;

FIGURE 11 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 111-11 of FIGURE 5 looking in the d1- rection of the arrows and showing the delivery end portion of the delivery chute; and

FIGURE 12 is a perspective view of yielding means to align a vial and retain the vial in partial lifted position.

The embodiment of the invention is supported in elevated position by a table 13 partly shown in FIGURES 1, 4, 5, 9 and 10.

A bracket 14 is mounted on the table 13 to support a vibratory hopper and feeder shown in a diagrammatic manner at 15 in FIGURE l for closure caps comprising a cup member 16 having a tubular portion 17 extending from the closed end of the cup member y16 and arranged with external screw-threads 18, as shown in FIGURE 8. An annular groove 19 is formed around the tubular portion by the closed end of the cup member 16 and the screw-threads 18. The cup member 16 is provided with a sealing gasket having Ia base portion 20I seated in the bottom of the cup member and a plug portion`21 centrally positioned within the cup member. A syringe needle is mounted in the tubular portion 17 and the gasket 20, 21 with the pointed end portion 22 extended from the tubular portion 17 and the butt end portion 23 extended from the gasket plug portion 21. The pointed end portion 22 is encased in a flexible protective bag- Y like shield 24 having the open end gripping the tubular Y vent undue lateral movement of the chute.

portion 17 above the screw-threads 18.

The hopper and feeder 15 vibrate the closure caps 16-24 in such a manner that the closure caps are successively fed onto a pair of opposed and spaced rails or flanges 25 extending from the sides of a channel shaped chute 26 mounted on a frame 27 supported by the bracket 14, as shown in FIGURE 1. The receiving end of the chute is suspended in the'hopper and feeder 15 with the channel facing downwardly so that the closure caps are supported in inverted position, as shown in FIGURES l and 2. The flanges 25 are in the form of rails secured all the outer longitudinal edge portions in the tops of the side walls of the channel of the chute 26 with the inner longitudinal edge portions extending over the channel to project into diametrically opposite portions of the annular groove 19- of the closure caps, as shown in FIGURE 2. The bottom wall of the channel of the chute 26 is arranged with a longitudinal groove 28 to receive the projecting butt end portions 23 of `the syringe needles, as shown in FIGURES 2, 3 and 11. The chute 26 is twisted longitudinally so that the delivery end portion thereof will be positioned with the channel facing in an upward direction and the channel of an intermediate portion of the length of the chu-te will extend in a vertical plane, as shown in FIGURES 1, 3 and ll. The receiving and delivery end portions of the chute 26 extend in horizontal planes, as shown at 29 and 30, respectively, and the chute declines from the receiving end portion 29 to the delivery end portion 30, as shown in FIGURE 1. The travel of 'the closure caps down the chute is facilitated by vibrating the chute in a suitable manner, such as by a vibrator 31 attached to an intermediate portion of the chute, as shown in FIGURE 1. The delivery portion 30 of the chute is restrained against undue vibratory movement by a post 32 mounted on the table 13 and a U-shaped member 33 secured to the bracket 32 and extended along the opposite sides of the chute 26 to pre- The upper ends of the member 33 are chamfered at an angle correspending to the inclination of the chute and said ends are provided with removable cleats 34 extending over the franges 25, as shown in FIGURES 1, 4 and 5, to prevent undue vibratory movement of the chute in an upward direction. The underface of the bottom wall of the chute at the delivery end portion 36 is provided with a groove 35, as shown in FIGURES 5 and 11, for a purpose to be hereinafter described. Beyond the groove 35, the bottom Wall of the chute 26 terminates to form a discharge passage 36, as shown in FIGURES l, 5 and 7. The foremost closure cap in the delivery portion 30 of the chute 216 is yieldingly retained against further forward movement and in vertical alignment with the discharge passage 36 by a pair of balls 37 carried by a pair of tubular members 33 adjustably mounted on brackets 39 secured to the outer sides of the chute 26 and having a forward end portion 4t) arranged as continuations of the side walls of the chute 26 to form the discharge passage 36, as shown in FIGURES 5, 6 and 7. lThe inner or opposed ends of the bores of the tubular members 38 are contracted longitudinally to arcuate form having radii slightly smaller than the radii of the balls 37, as shown at 41 in FIGURE 7, to retain the balls in said tubular members 38 while permitting peripheral portions of the balls to extend beyond said tubular members and abut two spaced portions of the cup member 16 of the closure cap forward of the vertical center of the closure cap, as shown in full lines in FIGURES 6 and 7 and in dotted lines in FIGURE S. The balls are yieldingly urged against the contractions 41 by springs 42 mounted in the bores of the tubular members 38 and adjustably retained in said bores by adjustment screws 43 screw-threaded in the bores. The adjustment screws 43 are locked in adjusted position by set or look screws 44; screw-threaded in the bores of the tubular members 38. The tubular members 38 are retained on the bracket portions 46 by retaining rails or anges 45 secured to the tops of the side walls of the chute 26 and the bracket portions 40 as continuations of the ilanges 25, as shown in FIGURES 4 and 6. The opposed edges of the flanges 45 are beveled and extended slightly beyond the opposed edges of the anges 25, as shown at 46 in FIGURES 4, 6 and 1l, to project into diametrically opposite portions of the grooves 19 of the closure caps, as shown in FIGURES 6 and 11. The tubular members 38 are retained in adjusted position on the bracket portions 40 by set-screws 47 screwethreaded in reduced wall sections o-f the bracket portions 40 to extend into recesses 43 in the tubular members `3S of greater length than the diameters of the se screws 47 to permit longitudinal adjustment `of the tubular members 38, as shown in FIGURE 7.

The closure caps are positioned on suitable containers, such as vials, comprising `an elongated body 49 having'a reduced neck 5t? and a mouth bead 51 having a diameter intermediate the diameters of the body and neck. The outer diameter of the mouth bead 51 is substantially equal to the inner diameter of the cup member 16 and the inner diameter of the neck 50 is slightly less than the diameter of the plug portion 21 of the closure Vcap gasket. The bottom of the body 49 is closed by a plunger 52 arranged to expel liquid medicament 53a through the syringe needle 22, 23, as shown in FIGURE 8.

The vials are supported in upright position by a circular platform 53 supported on the table 13 by spacing elements 54 and bolts 55 secured in the table V13 and extended through the spacing elements 5d and ear portions 56 projecting from spaced peripheral portions of the fplatform 53, as shown in FIGURE l. The platform is raised or lowered to accommodate vials olf different lengths by replacing the spacing elements'54 with spacing elements of different lengths or repositioning the spacing elements so that the platform will'rest onthet-able 13 and the spacing elements will be interposedbetween the ear portions 56 and the retaining nuts onitt'ie bolts 55.

The upper surface of the peripheral portion of the platform 53 is arranged with a depression in vertical alignment with the groove 35 extending in a declining plane, as at 57 in FIGURES 1, 5, 9 and 10, and the portion of the depression in vertical alignment with the discharge passage 36 extending in a horizontal plane, as at 5S.

The vials are intermittently transported in equidistantly spaced relation on the platform 53 by a circular member 59 rotatably supported in the center by the table 13 and intermittently rotated by suitable means, not shown, as it does not form a part ofthis invention. The peripheral portion of the member 59' is arranged with a circular series or row of equidistantly spaced square openings 66 slightly larger than the diameters of the vial bodies Ai) so that said bodies are readily centered relative to the closure cap retained by the balls 37. The upper ends of the openings 60 are rounded, as at 61 in FIGURE 4, to facilitate positioning of the vials into said openings. The thickness of the transporting member 59 is less than the lengths of the vials and said member is spaced above the platform 53, so that the opposite end portions of the vials extend beyond the transporting member, as shown in FIGURES l, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10i.

The transporting member 59 positions each vial successively in vertical alignment with a closure cap yieldingly retained by the bal-ls 37, and as said vial approaches the retained closure cap it is engaged by yielding means to center the vial relative to the retained closure cap by urging the vial against the sides of the opening 60 forming the inner rearward corner 62 of said opening, as shown in FIGURES 4 and 6. Said yielding means comprises an arm 63 of resilient material, such as spring steel, iixed at one end to a post 64 mounted on the table 13, as shown in FIGURES 1, 4 and 5. The opposite end of the arm 63 is provided with projections 65 spaced apart a distance greater than the thickness of the transporting member 59 so that the .projections will extend above and below the transporting member 59 to engage opposite end portions of the vial under the yielding -force of the arm 63. Each projection 65 is provided with an angular face, one side of which will engage and force the vial against the sides forming the corner 62 of the opening 60, as shown in FIGURES 4, 6 and 9. The other side 67 of the angular lfaces of the projections 65 will engage and force the vial against the sides forming the inner forward corner 68 of the opening 6o after the closure cap has been positioned on the vial and the positioned closure cap and vial are being moved from the balls 37 by the transporting member 59, `as shown in FIGURES 6 and 10, 'for a purpose to be described hereinafter.

v While the transporting member 59 is at rest, the closure `cap is retained by the balls 37 and the Vial is engaged by the faces 66 of the resilient arm 63, the vial is lifted from the depressed portion 58 to insert the mouth bead 51 and part of the neck 50 into the cup member 16 of the closure cap. This is accomplished by a plunger "69 slidably mounted in a bearing '70 xed to the underface of the table 13. The upper end portion of the plunger 69 is slidable in the platform 53 to project into the depressed portion 58 and above the upper surface of the platform 53 to an extent to position the mouth bead '51 and part of the inner surface of the neck 50 into impingement with the gasket portions 20, Z1. The plunger 69 is yieldingly urged to its uppermost position With the mouth bead 51 and part `of the inner surface of the neck 50 ofthe vial on the plunger 69 in impingement lwith the gasket portions 20, 21 by va spring 71 anchored at one end rto a xed part 72 of the apparatus, as shown in FIGURES 9 and l10, and the opposite end of the spring is Iconnected to an intermediate portionof a lever 73pivotedl at one end to a xed part of the apparatus, as indicated at 74 in FIGURES 9 and 10. The `opposite `end of the lever 73 is connected to an extension 75 of the plunger 69'below the bearing 70. The plunger "69 is Iact-uated'i'n a downward direction against the force ofthe spring 71 by a cam disk 76 fixed on a continuously rotating shaft 77 and said cam disk 76 engaging a cam follower 78 on a portion of the lever 73 between the spring 71 and the pivot 74. The cam disk v76 is arranged so that the top of the plunger 69 is even with the depressed portion 58, as shown in full lines in FIGURES 1, and 9, when the transporting member 59 is moving the vials along the platform` 53. When a vial is positioned on top of the plunger 69, the follower 78 -will ride olf the high portion of the cam disk 76 onto a low portion of the cam disk 76 which will permit the spring 71 to move the plunger 69 in an upward direction and lift the Vial from the depressed portion 58 into the position shown in full lines in FIGURE 7 and in dotted lines in FIGURE 9, whereby the vial is connected to the closure cap retained by the balls 37 by the impingement of the mouth bead 51 and neck 50 with the gasket portions 20, 21. After the vial is connected to the closure cap and before the transporting member 59 commences its intermittent movement, a portion a `'of the cam disk 76 will move the plunger 69 down a distance of approximately g of an inch, as shown at b lin FIGURES 7, 8 and 10, to relieve pressure of the vial against projections y65 so that the vial is not under any restraining pressure when it is moved along the platform 53 beyond the depression 57, 58 by the transporting member 59. During the travel of the follower 78 along the portion a of the cam disk 76, the transporting member 59 will commence its movement and `move the vial with its attached closure cap from the plunger A69, move the vial from the angular faces 66 of the vial centering arm 63a to the angular faces 67 of said arm and move the cup member 16 of the closure cap from the balls 37, as shown in FIGURE 8. When the vial is entirely olf the plunger 69, the follower 78 will be on the high portion of the cam disk 76 which will move the plunger to its lowermost position. Under the resiliency of the centering arm 63, the faces 67 thereof will force the vial against the sides forming the corner 68 of the opening 60 in the transporting member 59', whereby the vial and attached closure cap is held off the platform 53 until the vial leaves the faces 67, as sho-wn in FIGURES 8 and l0, and the Vial will drop tothe platform. This same movement of the transporting member 59 -Will position the successive vial on the transporting member onto the top of the plunger 69 which at this time has been fully moved even with the depressed portion 58 by the high portion of the cam disk 76, as shown in full lines in- FIGURE 9'. The cycle of operation is then repeated.

The groove 35 in the underface of the chute 26 and the depression 57, 58 yin the platform 53` will permit the aligning of the foremost closure cap and the vial guided by the resilient arm 63 with a minimum amount of space between said closure cap and vial.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

l. In apparatus for positioning closure caps on vials, a platform to support a plurality of vials in upright position, a rotary member to successively transport the vials in spaced relation to each other along the platform, a chute to successively deliver a plurality of closure caps above the vials on the platform, means to yieldingly retain the foremost closure cap on the chute in vertically spaced alignment above a vial yon the platform, and means to lift said vial and position the vial in the foremost closure cap, the rotary member being arranged to slidably support the vials in upright position whereby the vial and positioned closure cap are moved from the yielding retaining means and the lifting means on the platform by the rotary member.

2. Apparatus for positioning closure caps on vials as claimed in claim l, wherein the chute is of a channel shape in cross section, and the means to yieldingly retain the foremost closure cap on the chute comprises springs biased balls supported in opposite sides of the chute to yieldingly engage spacedportions of said closure cap forwardly of the vertical axis of the closure cap.

' 3. Apparatus for positioning closure caps on vials as claimed in claim 1, wherein the means to lift a vial comprises a plunger slidable in the platform to lift a vial from the rotary member, a lever pivotally mounted at one end and connected at the other end to the plunger, a spring connected to an intermediate port-ion of the lever to urge the plunger into vial lifting position, and a power rotated cam engaging another intermediate portion of the lever to control the lifting force of the spring and move the plunger out of engagement with the vial, the power rotated cam being arranged with high and low portions and an intermediate high portion to actuate the plunger slightly below the uppermost position of the plunger after the closure cap and vial have been united. v 4. Apparatus for positioning closure caps on vials as claimed in claim 1, wherein said 4closure caps consist of a cup member having a tubular portion extending from the closed end of the cup and arranged with an annular groove and a syringe needle having the pointed end portion extending from the tubular portion and the butt end portion extending from the open end of the cup, and the chute is of channel shape in cross section having a width slightly greater than the diameter of the cup members, a longitudinal groove in the bottom of the channel to receive the butt end portion of the syringe needle and a pair of flanges extending inwardly from the sides of the channel and into the annular grooves of the closure caps to retain the closure caps in the channel.

5. In apparatus for positioning closure caps on vials, means to support a plurality of vials in upright position, means to successively transport the vials in spaced relation to each other along the supporting means, means to successively deliver a plurality of closure caps above the vials on the supporting means, means to yieldingly retain the foremost closure cap on the delivery means in vertically spaced alignment above a vial on the supporting means, means to lift said vial and position the vial in the foremost closure cap, the transporting means being arranged to slidably support the vials in upright position whereby the vial and positioned closure cap are moved from the yielding retaining means and the lifting means on the supporting means by the transporting means, and means to yieldingly ycenter the vial in vertical alignment with the foremost closure cap and retain the vial in partial lifted position subsequently to the positioning of the vial in the closure cap and during the moving of the vial and positioned closure cap by the transporting means from the lifting means.

6. Apparatus for positioning closure caps on vials as claimed in claim 5, wherein the means to support the vials comprises a stationary platform, and the means to successively transport the vials comprises a member rotatably mounted in spaced relation above the stationary platform and arranged with an annular series of equidistantly spaced square openings slightly larger than the diameters of the vials to permit centering of the vial in vertical alignment with the foremost closure cap and retaining the vial in partial lifted position.

7. Apparatus for positioning closure caps on vials as claimed in claim 6, wherein the transporting member is of a thickness less than the lengths of the vials so that the opposite end portions of the vials will extend beyond the opposite faces of the transporting member.

8. Apparatus for positioning closure caps on vials as claimed in claim 7, wherein the means to yieldingly center a vial in vertical alignment with the foremost closure cap and retain the vial in partial lifted position comprises an arm of resilient material IJrixedly supported at one end and having the opposite end portion arranged with spaced projections extending along opposite faces of the transporting member to engage the end portions of the vial extending beyond the opposite faces of the transporting member and the projections having corresponding angular 7 faces, one angle side forcing the vial against adjacent sides forming one corner of the opening in the transporting member to center the vial and the other angle side forcing the vial against adjacent sides forming another corner of the opening in the transporting mem-ber to retain the vial in partial lifted position.

9. In apparatus for positioning closure caps on vials, means to support a plurality of vlials in upright position, means to successively transport the vials in spaced relation to each other along the supporting means, a chute to successively deliver aphrality of closure caps above the vials on the supporting means, said Ichute having a declining portion and a horizontal portion at the lower end, the supporting means for the vials being arranged with a depression in vertical alignment with the horizontal portion of the chute to lo'wer the vials as they are transported toward the horizontal portion of the chute, means to yielding'ly retain the Aforernost closure cap on the chute in vertically spaced alignmentabove a vial on the depression of the supporting means, and means to lift said vial and position the vial in the foremost closure cap, the transporting means being arranged to slidably support the vials in upright position whereby the via-l and positioned closure cap are moved from the yielding retaining means and the lifting means on the supporting means by the transporting means.

10. Apparatus for positioning closure caps on vials as claimed in claim 9, wherein the vial lifting ymeans is located in the depression of the supporting means.

References Cited in the le'of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,760,859 Lach May 27, 1930 2,041,891 White May 26, 1936 2,658,654 Schweizer Nov. 1G, k195.3 2,732,114 Annen Ian. 24, 1956 2,826,885 Henderson et al Mar. `18, 1958 

